Kristin Bauer, best known as Pam from “True Blood,” will be a featured guest at Dragon Con 2014, taking place this Labor Day weekend, Aug. 29-Sept. 1, in downtown Atlanta. (Special Photo)

Sir Patrick Stewart of the X Men movies and Star Trek:The Next Generation will be a featured guest during Dragon Con 2014 this Labor Day Weekend in downtown Atlanta. (Special Photo)

A record number of more than 62,000 gamers, cosplayers, comic book readers and pop culture fans are expected to pour into downtown Atlanta this Labor Day weekend for the 28th consecutive year of Dragon Con, the internationally known pop culture, sci-fi, fantasy and gaming convention.

Fans will be traveling from all over the nation and even the world to participate in the four-day convention, where they’ll have the opportunity to meet actors, artists, authors and creators.

More than 400 guests from the worlds of movies, television, comics, literature and more will lead panel discussions and meet with fans. Top celebrities include Sir Patrick Stewart (“Star Trek: The Next Generation” and X-Men movie franchise), Karl Urban (“Star Trek” movies, “The Lord of The Rings”) and James Gunn, writer and director of this summer’s box office hit “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

“Our guest list of actors this year includes a number of people from current television shows including ‘Once Upon A Time,’ ‘Arrow,’ ‘True Blood’ and ‘Falling Skies,’” Rachel Reeves, convention co-chair, said in a press release. “It’s an exciting list and I believe our fans will really enjoy the chance to meet their new favorites.”

The annual Dragon Con Parade will step off Saturday at 10 a.m. The route will be the same as last year, starting from a staging spot on West Peachtree Place near West Peachtree Street and ending on Peachtree Center Avenue between John Portman Boulevard and Baker Street, in front of the Atlanta Marriott Marquis.

Another Dragon Con staple fans can look forward to is the high-quality cosplayers, or costume players, that will attend and show off some of their best work. They will promenade through the five host hotels and streets of downtown Atlanta and also participate in nightly costume contests.

New this year is Dragon Con’s partnership with PassionTag to provide a fully interactive, photo sharing platform for fans. The PassionTag app, available on Apple’s App Store, will allow users to tag their photos with any of a dozen Dragon Con-related tags, and then post them to their favorite social media platforms. PassionTag will also be the platform for Dragon Con’s first ever digital costume contest — the photo garnering the most likes, will receive a special prize given out during the show.